HQI ballast w/ Moguls???

[Rick_B]

I recently purchased 2 2' 250W 20K mogul style retros. The ballast that came along with the units were HQI ballasts or M60 ballasts. A standard mogul style unit should use a M58 ballast. In talking with Hamilton, they claim that if I use the HQI ballast with the mogul bulb I will get a couple of results.

1) A more intense and brighter bulb -> a good thing
2) A hotter colour spectrum -> since I like blue, a good thing
3) A shortened bulb life, only 9-12 months compared with 18 months -> a bad thing.

Has anyone experimented with different bulb and ballast types? I am really interested in knowing if I can use this combo and still use the bulbs beyond the 12 month mark with sucess

Rick